/ 


GOD   THE    PERPETUAL  RENEWER. 


NEW-YEAR'S  DISCOURSE, 


DELIVERED   IN  ANGELICA,  N.  Y., 
SUNDAY,  JAN  1,  1865. 


BY    JOHN    H.  RAYMOND, 

PRESIDENT  OF  VASSAR  FEMALE  COLLEGE. 


PUBLISHED     BY  REQUEST. 


A 


POUGHKEEPSIE: 
Telegraph  Steam  Presses. 
1865. 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


GOD   THE    PERPETUAL    RENE  WER. 


A 


NEW-YEAR'S  DISCOURSE, 


DELIVERED   IN  ANGELICA,  N.  Y., 

SUNDAY,  JAN.  1,  1865. 


BY   JOHN   H.  RAYIOiXD, 

PRESIDENT  OF  VASSAR  FEMALE  COLLEGE. 


PUBLISHED    BY  REQUEST. 


POUGHKEEPSD3 : 
Telegraph  Steam  Presses. 
1865. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2013 


http://archive.org/details/godperpetualreneOOraym 


Rev.  21 :  5. —  And  He  that  sat  on  the  throne  said  :  Behold, 
I  make  all  things  new. 


This  morning's  sun  rose  not  only  on  a  new  day,  but  on  a 
New  Year.  The  announcement  sends  a  thrill  of  pleasure 
along  our  nerves  ;  and  already,  round  half  the  globe,  men 
have  exchanged  kind  wishes  and  congratulations  on  the 
event. 

But  why  ?  What  white  stone  marks  this  day,  above  the 
days  that  preceded  it  ?  No  change  has  passed  upon  the 
face  of  nature.  The  course  of  Providence  maintains  its  ac- 
customed tranquil  flow.  Winter  still  rests  on  the  hills. 
His  icy  breath  is  in  the  air  to-day  as  yesterday ;  his  iron 
grasp  still  holds  the  streams  and  soil.  There  is  no  less  of 
sorrow  in  the  dwellings  of  men ;  no  less  of  sin,  nor  of  the 
wretchedness  that  treads  upon  the  heels  of  sin.  Whence 
then  these  jubilant  expressions?  Whence  these  songs  of 
universal  gladness  and  praise — as  if  this  day,  above  other 
days,  had  brought  with  it  from  Heaven  to  earth  some  new 
and  mighty  blessing? 

The  answer  is  simple.  It  is  the  birthday  of  a  new  year. 
In  the  grand  circuits  of  Time,  we  have  reached  a  point 
which  completes  one  revolution  and  begins  another.  The 
sun,  whose  receding  glories  we  have  watched  for  months 
witli  growing  sadness, as  nature  drooped  lower  and  still  lower 
beneath  his  waning  beams,  has  reached  at  length  the  limit 
of  his  southward  inarch,  and  pausing  like  some  victorious 
Sherman  at  the  extremity  of  his  completed  work,  sweeps 
round  to-day  with  homeward  look  and  promise  of  return. 
The  "old  year"  with  its  history  finished  and  closed  up,  its 
experiences  exhausted,  its  work  all  done  or  gone  undone  to 
the  judgement-seat — the  old  year,  with  its  fruits  all  gather- 
ed in  and  garnered,  its  flowers  withered  and  scattered  by 
the  autumn  blast — never  more  to  bloom — has  bowed  its 


4 


head  and  passed  away  ;  and  the  "new  year"  smiles  ont 
upon  us  to-day,  like  a  healthy  new-born  babe,  the  light  of 
hope  upon  its  brow,  and  in  its  train  events,  whose  swelling 
forms,  though  dim  and  unrevealed  as  yet,  cast  shadows  of 
greatness  before. 

A  New  Year  is  born  to-day  !  Well  may  the  announce- 
ment stir  our  blood,  and  rouse  us  as  with  a  trumpet's  note 
It  calls  us  away  from  sombre  retrospection.  It  bids  us 
look  upward  and  onward  into  the  teeming  future.  It  says, 
"let  the  dead  Past  bury  its  dead  :  thou,  O  man,  child  of 
eternity,  hast  to  do  with  the  ever-living  Hereafter !  Leave 
sighing  over  finished  works  and  vanished  experiences,  over 
buried  joys  or  disappointed  expectations,  over  broken  vows 
and  opportunities  forever  lost — or  remember  these  things 
only  to  draw  from  them  instruction  and  inspiration  for 
what  lies  before  you — and  gird  your  loins  for  new  struggles 
and  new  triumphs  in  the  fields  of  virtuous  and  honorable 
endeavor !" 

Fitting  it  is  too,  that  we  interchange  congratulations  on 
this  opening  day  ot  the  new  year.  It  is  a  new  opening 
of  the  door  of  hope ;  and  as  there  is  hope  for  all  the  living 
— since  the  afflicted  may  at  least  hope  for  consolation,  since 
the  unfortunate  of  the  past  year  may  possibly  retrieve  his 
fortunes  in  the  present,  since  even  to  the  sinful  it  is  per- 
mitted to  repent  and  thus  escape  the  dreadful  doom  of  sin 
— so  is  it  right  to  invoke  Heaven's  blessing  on  all,  and  to 
wish  that  to  every  one  the  "new"  may  also  be  a  "happy" 
year. 

There  is  something  inspiring  in  the  very  name  which 
popular  usage  has  attached  to  the  incoming  year.  It  is 
not  merely  another  year  that  is  given  us  ;  it  is  a  new  year 
— unworn,  untarnished,  free  from  all  marks  of  former  use 
and  from  all  debasing  associations.  Fresh  and  pure  from 
the  Maker's  hand,  its  fair  expanse  spreads  out  before  us,  a 
page  for  each  to  write  on,  according  to  his  own  inclinings, 
a  history  to  honor  or  dishonor.  What  an  opportunity  to 
correct  the  errors,  to  fulfil  the  resolutions,  to  complete  the 


5 


beginnings  of  the  past !  What  an  invitation  to  revise  the 
principles  on  which  we  have  heretofore  conducted  life,  and, 
if  need  be,  to  lay  anew  its  foundations  in  nobler  purposes 
towards  God  and  man. 

There  is,  in  all  the  Divine  arrangements  concerning  us, 
a  wise  adaptedness  to  the  nature  we  have  received  from  His 
hands.  And  prominent  among  the  principles  of  that  na- 
ture is  the  love  of  novelty,  or  newness — of  variety  and 
change.  The  most  delicious  banquet  would  soon  fall  upon 
the  taste,  if  day  after  day  we  were  compelled  to  sit  at  the 
same  table  and  partake  of  the  same  viands.  The  sky  and 
the  landscape  of  Eden  would  weary  and  disgust  us,  the 
very  sunshine  and  flowers  become  loathsome*,  if  continued 
in  one  unvarying  round.  We  demand  new  objects,  and 
new  experiences ;  we  need  a  shifting  panorama  of  scenery 
and  life,  to  stimulate  our  active  powers  and  to  afford  the 
conditions  of  a  happy  and  healthy  growth ;  without  them 
we  stagnate,  sicken  and  die. 

Accordingly,  God  has  so  constructed  the  universe,  and 
so  administers  its  providential  government,  as  to  insure  a 
perpetual  diversity  of  manifestations  and  impressions. — 
Time  advances  not  in  one  monotonous  right  line,  but  in 
circles,  by  revolutions.  Days,  months,  years,  ages,  roll  on 
successive  ;  each  having  a  beginning,  continuance,  and  com- 
pletion of  its  own,  each  marked  by  separate  characteristics 
and  a  perfectly  distinct  history.  God  has  arranged  for  this 
in  the  very  structure  of  the  universe.  Millions  of  whirling 
spheres  compose  the  mighty  clockwork  of  creation  ;  suns 
and  fixed  stars,  the  jewel-pivots  of  its  movement. 

Prominent  amidst  this  vast  machinery  of  revolutions  is 
that  to  which  we  give  the  name  of  year.  It  is  a  revolution 
of  time,  measured  by  the  circuit  of  our  globe  about  the 
center  of  the  system  to  which  it  belongs  ;  a  sweep,  so  regu- 
lar in  the  law  of  its  curvation,  so  exact  in  its  rate  of  velo- 
city, that  the  scrutiny  of  centuries  and  the  sharpest  math- 
ematical analysis  have  never  detected  a  deviation  ;  and  yet, 
by  a  simple  mechanical  device,  a  gentle  inclination  of  the 


6 


earth's  axis  towards  the  plane  of  its  orbit,  what  perpetual  va- 
riety of  effects  is  secured  !  What  a  rich  succession  of  nov- 
elties and  glad  surprises  are  made  to  diversify  the  progress 
of  each  single  year !  Spring,  with  its  balmy  breath,  its 
tender  green,  its  fresh  and  delicate  decoration  of  buds  and 
blossoms,  rising  by  slow  gradations  to  the  furnace-glow  of 
Summer — Summer,  crowned  with  thick  garlands  of  inten- 
sest  hue  and  intoxicating  fragrance,  and  flashing  forth  in 
sudden  tempest-bursts  of  passion — followed  in  turn  by  mel- 
low Autumn,  rich  in  brown  and  gold,  pouring  plenty  into 
the  lap  of  earth  and  comfort  into  the  homes  and  hearts  of 
men,  rewarding  industry  with  the  sense  of  wealth,  and  en- 
couraging fai^h  in  virtue  and  in  God,  and  yet  by  the  very 
glory  of  the  garniture  it  throws  over  forest  and  meadow 
proclaiming  the  sunset  of  the  year,  and  heralding  its  ap- 
proaching night— the  cold  and  stern,  but  not  unmerciful 
night  of  Winter,  when  nature,  hid  beneatli  her  coverlet  of 
snow,  heeds  not  the  fairy  decoration  of  her  hills,  but  re- 
news her  wasted  powers  in  healthful  sleep,  while  man,  re- 
tiring to  the  sacred  shelter  of  his  home,  drinks  his  fill  of 
domestic  and  social  pleasures,  and,  if  he  will,  may  in  a 
well-spent  leisure  cultivate  his  mind  and  heart.  I  have  hint- 
ed only  at  the  broadest  and  most  general  varieties  of  the 
progressive  year — the  characteristics  of  the  so-called  "sea- 
sons ;"  but  every  month  is  equally  individualize  1,  equally  in- 
capable of  being  identified  with  any  other.  Ten  thousand 
diverse  agencies  are  ever  at  work  in  nature,  blending  with 
and  crossing  one  another,  co-working,  inter-working,  count- 
er-working, and  by  myriadfold  combinations  modifying  and 
varying  the  results.  So  that,  in  the  issue,  no  two  days  of  all 
the  three  hundred  and  sixty-five — nay,  no  two  hours  of  any 
twenty-four,  are  in  all  respects  alike.  In  the  endless  pro- 
cession, each  new-comer  comes  in  a  new  garb,  smiles  with 
a  new  expression,  imparts  an  unanticipated  blessing;  and 
the  restless  heart  of  man  is  fed  with  an  exhaustless  supply 
of  healthy  excitement  and  change. 

Here  then,  in  what  may  be  called  the  interior  structure 


7 


of  the  Year,  we  find  our  first  illustration  of  the  text.  "Be- 
hold, he  maketh  all  things  new."  Here  God  appears  as 
we  shall  find  Him  in  \  all  the  domains  of  nature,  provi- 
dence and  grace,  the  universal  and  perpetual  Renovator. 
For, 

— "as  they  change,  Almighty  Father,  these 

Are  but  the  varied  God.   The  rolling  year 

Is  full  of  Thee.         *         *  * 

Mysterious  round  !   What  skill,  what  force  Divine, 

Deep-felt,  in  all  appear !  A  simple  train, 

Yet  so  delightful,  mixed  with  such  kind  art, 

Such  beauty  and  beneficence  combined, 

Shade  unperceived  so  softening  into  shade, 

And  all  so  forming  an  harmonius  whole, 

That,  as  they  still  succeed,  they  ravish  still. 

Yet  man,  too  oft,  marks  not  the  Mighty  Hand, 

That,  everbusy,  wheels  the  silent  spheres  ; 

Works  in  the  secret  deep  ;  shoots,  steaming,  thence 

The  fair  profusion  that  o'er  spreads  the  Spring ; 

Flings  from  the  sun  direct  the  flaming  day  ; 

Feeds  every  creature ;  hurls  the  tempest  forth  ; 

And,  as  on  earth  this  grateful  change  revolves, 

With  transport  touches  all  the  springs  of  life, 

For  me,  when  I  forget  the  darling  theme, 

Whether  the  blossom  blows,  the  Summer-ray 

Russets  the  plain,  inspiring  Autumn  gleams, 

Or  Winter  rises  in  the  blackening  East, 

Be  my  tongue  mute,  may  fancy  paint  no  more, 

And,  dead  to  joy,  forget  my  heart  to  beat  !" 

II.  But  this  is  not  all.  ^Tot  only  within  the  limits  of  each 
single  year  does  God  "make  all  things  new  ;"  but,  in  that 
succession  of  years  which  constitutes  the  life  of  men  and 
the  providential  history  of  the  world  we  live  in,  the  same 
grand  truth  obtains. 

The  course  of  nature  and  of  Providence  is  not  represent- 
ed by  a  wheel  spinning  upon  a  fixed  pivot,  whose  very  mo- 
tion would  become  an  intensified  monotony,  but  by  a  run- 
ning wheel,  where,  though  the  same  tire  forever  turns  at 
the  same  distance  around  the  same  center,  yet  (center  and 
circumference  alike  advancing,)  every  new  revolution  finds 
it  farther  on  its  way.    Each  year,  building  upon  the  works 


s 


of  preceding  years,  carries  the  structure  higher  ;  and  so  the 
life  of  man,  bound  up  with  that  of  nature,  like  the  ever- 
mounting  flame-whirl,  fed  by  the  aliment  which  former 
years  and  lives  have  furnished,  revolves  in  ascending  spirals 
towards  the  goal  of  divine,  ever-unattained  perfection. 

Trace  this  law  of  progress  in  creation.  Go  back  through 
the  long  ages  of  pre-adamite  existence.  Contemplate  the 
earth,  as  it  was  "in  the  beginning,"  a  formless  void,  on  the 
face  of  whose  dark  waters  brooded  the  mighty  Spirit  which 
had  but  just  begun  to  prepare  it  for  the  manifold  wonders 
of  which  it  was  to  be  the  theatre.  From  that  primeval 
hour,  through  all  those  mysterious  cycles  of  strange  exis- 
tence, how  steadily  the  wheels  revolved  and  the  work  ad- 
vanced !  By  what  regular  stages  of  development  was  the 
stupendous  plan  unfolded  !  How  constant  was  the  pro- 
gress from  lower  to  higher,  from  the  less  to  the  more  per- 
fect forms  of  organization — each  period  accumulating  ma- 
terials and  moulding  types  for  that  which  was  to  follow, 
and  every  new  age  teeming  with  growths  that  would  have 
been  strange  indeed  to  those  that  went  before  ! 

First,  a  vast  watery  world,  where  amid  huge  sea- weeds  . 
dwelt  only  polyps,  trilobites,  and  the  lowest  orders  of  shell- 
fish. Then,  out  of  a  soil  prepared  through  many  genera- 
tions from  their  crumbling  remains  mixed  with  the  pebbly 
ocean-bed,  ground  ever  finer  and  finer  beneath  the  migh- 
ty mill-stone  of  the  sea,  and  in  due  time  lifted  to  the  sur- 
face by  the  internal  fires,  sprang  forth  the  new  wonder  of 
a  vegetable  life — gigantic  ferns  and  reeds,  covering  with 
rank  verdure  the  vast  morasses  which  formed  the  continents 
of  that  age.  Next,  insects  start  up  and  swarm  in  the  mar- 
shy forests — lizards  appear,  crawling  through  the  slime  or 
sunning  themselves  on  the  rocks — strange  winged  reptiles 
shoot  athwart  the  sky — while  sharks  and  saurian  monsters 
chase  one  another  through  the  thick  waters,  devouring  and 
devoured.  Another  lapse  of  slow-revolving  time — another 
turn  of  the  Almighty  Hand,  and  yet  nobler  growths  re- 
veal themselves.    The  lands  slowly  lifted,  drained  and  mel- 


9 


lowed  by  the  action  of  the  sun,  and  the  soil  deepened  by 
the  decomposing  remains  of  plants  and  animals,  at  length 
the  oak,  the  pine,  the  verdurous  maple,  and  the  branching 
beech  appeared,  and  the  willow  "waved  its  green  and  grace- 
ful tresses  in  the  breeze."  Over  broad  savannahs  stalked 
the  mastodon  and  mammoth,  the  megatherium,  the  mylod- 
on,  and  other  now  extinct  monsters  $  and  trackless  forests 
rang  for  the  first  time  with  the  notes  of  birds.  Last  of  all, 
amidst  earthquake  shocks  and  convulsive  throes  which  rent 
the  solid  fabric  of  the  globe  and  involved  the  very  heavens 
in  the  tempest  of  commotion,  nature  gave  forth  her  latest 
birth  in  this  our  present  system,  and  God  added  the  crown 
and  master-piece  of  creation,  man — made  as  an  immortal 
spirit  in  His  own  image,  and  sharing  in  kind,  though  not 
in  degree,  His  attributes. 

Thus,  stage  by  stage,  cycle  after  cycle,  did  God  unfold 
His  plan ;  and  at  each  majestic  turn  of  the  revolving 
wheel,  we  seem  to  hear  Him  reasserting  :  "Behold  !  I 
make  all  things  new !  Lo,  all  ye  sons  of  light !  the  cur- 
tain rises  on  another  scene  in  My  never-ending  drama  of 
creation!  Come,  wonder  and  adore !"  And  yet  the  end  is 
not.  For  when  the  last  step  in  this  ascending:  scale  was 
reached,  when  the  Infinite  Father,  surveying  the  grand  re- 
sult, and  scrutinizing  every  part  in  turn,  pronounced  all 
"good"  and  ready  to  receive  its  lord,  the  world,  though  per- 
fect for  that  purpose,  was  far  from  being  a  finished  world. 
It  was  just  the  reverse.  It  was  a  world  but  just  begun — 
a  rudimental  world — containing  indeed  the  elements  and 
suggesting  the  method  of  its  own  improvement,  but  wait- 
ing for  the  hand  of  culture  and  the  mellowing  influences 
of  time  to  lead  it  towards  perfection.  For  this  purpose, 
the  labor  of  man  has  been  brought  into  honorable  alliance 
with  the  labor  of  God — a  perfect  world  the  goal  at  which 
both  are  aiming.  A  world  completely  reclaimed,  subdued, 
and  ripened — a  world  entirely  occupied,  and  filled  in  every 
part  with  prosperous  and  happy  inhabitants — a  world  of 
uniform  and  high  fertility,  of  finished  culture  and  intelli- 


10 


gence,  of  universal  peace,  good-will  and  concord — and  thus 
a  world  that  would  fully  realize  the  Divine  idea  and  be 
like  heaven  in  its  consummate  happiness  and  glory:  this, 
I  say,  has  been  the  goal  toward  which  the  race  has  from  the 
beginning  struggled,  too  often  blindly,  unconsciously,  and 
with  weak  and  impious  un faith,  but  to  which  God,  by  His 
blessing  on  all  true  human  work,  and  by  the  co-operating 
influences  of  His  providence  and  grace,  has  been  steadily 
conducting  and  will  surely  bring  it. 

To  illustrate  this  truth  in.full  detail  would  be  to  write 
the  history  of  mankind.  It  would  be  to  trace  the  progress 
of  civilization  in  all  nations,  from  naked  barbarism  dwell- 
ing in  caves  and  dens,  and  subsisting  on  the  native  pro- 
ducts of  the  woods  and  waves,  up  to  the  highest  forms  of 
cultivated  and  refined  society,  pressing  all  the  forces  of  na- 
ture into  the  service  of  its  material  wants,  and  living  the 
life  of  gods  in  the  higher  exercise  of  the  intellect  and  heart. 
It  would  be  to  unfold  the  growth  and  development  of  all 
the  arts  and  sciences — of  agriculture,  manufactures,  and 
commerce  —  of  medicine  and  law  —  of  government  and 
the  economies  of  social  life — of  many-volumed  literature, 
brain-exhausting  philosophy,  and  beauty-creating  art — of 
all  that  goes  to  promote  the  comfort  of  the  household,  to 
strengthen  the  bands  of  society  and  augment  the  common 
wealth,  to  heal  the  sick,  to  relieve  the  destitute,  to  deliver 
the  oppressed,  to  reform  the  profligate,  to  instruct  the 
young — to  make  all  men  the  richer  for  the  gifts  and  the 
successes  of  each  one,  and  each  a  sharer  in  the  material 
and  mental  affluence  of  the  race — of  every  thing,  in  short, 
that  goes  to  make  the  world  what  we  find  it,  or  to  make  it 
a  world  we  would  desire  to  live  in. 

Ah !  what  arithmetic  can  compute  the  sum  of  the  hu- 
man toil  here  represented  ?  Who  will  tell  the  number  of 
its  strokes?  Who  measure  its  rivers  and  seas  of  sweat !  — 
Who  describe  the  pangs  of  anxiety  and  discouragement, 
the  fatigue  and  exhaustion,  it  has  cost  ?  And  still,  despite 
all  difficulties  and  all  discouragements,  despite  the  fears  of 


11 


the  cowards,  the  inertia  of  the  sluggards  and  the  evil  fore- 
bodings of  the  croakers,  the  work  has  gone  steadily  for- 
ward, and  not  a  stroke  of  faithful  labor  has  been  lost.  For 
He  that  sits  upon  the  throne  of  providence  as  well  as  of 
nature,  has  said  :  "Behold,  I  make  all  things  new."  It  is 
God's  declared  purpose  to  renovate  and  glorify  the  earth  ; 
and  it  is  His  way  to  carry  forward  His  great  providential 
design,  step  by  step,  through  the  agency  of  faithful  and 
obedient  men. 

And  now,  standing  on  the  threshold  of  a  ISTew  Year,  we 
have  a  right,  my  fellow-laborers,  to  the  comfort  and  inspir- 
ation of  this  thought,  Called  to  prepare  ourselves  for  a 
renewal  of  the  annual  toils  which  burden  life  and  wear  it 
out,  even  while  they  dignify  and  exalt  it,  it  is  a  satisfaction 
to  think  that  we  are  not  called  to  do  over  the  work  we  have 
already  done*.  It  may  seem  to  some  of  you,  perhaps,  that 
the  labor  of  the  past  has  been  fruitless  and  unproductive, 
so  far  at  least  as  your  own  interests  are  concerned.  You 
are  struggling,  it  may  be,  still  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  just 
where  you  began  to  struggle  years  ago  ;  or  perhaps  you 
have  lived  to  see  the  accumulations  of  long  and  faithful  in- 
dustry by  some  sudden  stroke  of  misfortune  smitten  from 
your  hand  and  divided  among  strangers — and  all  your  la- 
bor seems  lost.  But  it  is  not  so.  If  your  labor  has-been 
true  and  honest  labor — so  far,  certainly,  a%it  has  complied 
with  the  conditions  of  God's  law — it  is  all  saved.  It  is  all 
now,  and  will  forever  be,  productive.  If  you  are  not  bene- 
fitted by  it,  others  are.  If  the  reward  of  the  diligent  has 
not  yet  been  given  you,  it  assuredly  will  be.  It  has  at  least 
added  to  the  riches  of  the  race,  and  "after  many  days"  it 
will  return  into  your  own  bosom.  It  has  contributed  some- 
thing to  the  advancement  of  God's  work  in  the  earth,  and 
in  the  final  reckoning  you  shall  find  it  feet  down  to  your 
credit  and  repaid  with  interest.  Meanwhile,  if  you  have 
been  co-laborers  with  God,  it  has  already  re-acted  with  be- 
nign influence  upon  yourselves,  all  the  more  perhaps  be- 
cause it  has  been  outwardly  unsuccessful.    Each  day's  hon- 


12 


est  toil  has  made  you  stronger,  wiser,  more  self-reliant  and 
more  capable  than  you  were  before  ;  and  you  enter,  if  you 
will,  on  the  business  of  the  J\Tew  Year  with  a  larger  capital 
of  experience,  of  patience,  of  resolution  and  force  of  will, 
if  of  nothing  else. 

Gird  up  your  loins  then,  O  christian  workers — the  proud- 
est title  it  is  given  man  to  wear,  and  that  which  makes  my 
own  countrymen  (thank  God  !)  the  foremost  people  of  the 
world — and  address  yourselves  like  brave  men  to  the  labors 
of  a  ]STew  Year.  It  shall  be  new  in  fact,  as  well  as  in  name. 
You  are  not  called  to  return  upon  your  track — to  do  over 
your  former  works — to  tread  the  weary  round  of  toil 
already  finished.  The  mighty  God  commands  :  ''Speak  ye 
to  the  people,  that  they  go  forward."  New  fields  of  enter- 
prise are  opening — new  prizes  are  held  out  to  stimulate  exer- 
tion— new  opportunities  of  improvement  solicit  recognition 
— new  conquests  are  possible  this  year,  conquests  which  could 
never  have  been  made  before,  in  nature  and  in  society — over 
sterile  soils  and  selfish  hearts — over  ignorance  and  vice — 
over  the  sins  of  our  own,  and  the  corruptions  of  the  public 
life.  Happy  he  who  discerns  the  signs  of  the  times,  and 
who  hears  rising  above  all  the  din  of  human  life  and  pas- 
sion, above  the  turmoil  of  business  and  the  clangor  of  arms, 
the  voice  of  Him  who  sits  upon  the  throne,  saying :  "Be- 
hold, I  make  alk  things  new  !  I,  the  perpetual  Renovator 
of  nature  and  of  man  !  Come,  share  with  me  the  privi- 
lege and  the  honor  of  the  work  !  This  day  I  roll  out  be- 
fore you  a  new  year.  It  shall  be  distinguished  by  nobler 
achievements  and  grander  improvements  than  all  that  have 
gone  before.    Come  ye,  my  sons,  help  me  to  make  it  so  !" 

The  expansion  of  the  field  of  private  enterprise  which 
the  last  few  years  have  witnessed  in  our  land,  is  something 
wonderful.  The  channels  of  intercourse  between  the  older 
maritime  sections  and  the  vast  inland  territory  at  the  West 
—the  roads,  canals  and  railways  built  years  ago  with  a  wise 
forecast  to  stimulate  and  aid  the  development  of  the  latter, 
have  accomplished  their  work  in  a  way  to  surpass  the  an- 


13 


ticipations  of  the  most  sanguine.  They  have  poured  in  a 
flood  of  hardy  and  industrious  immigrants,  and  created  a 
returning  tide  of  trade  and  travel  which  not  only  richly  re- 
pays their  cost,  but  has  already  overtaken  their  utmost  ca- 
pacity, and  outstrips  their  very  power  of  growth.  Mean- 
while, the  explorations  of  adventure  and  the  investigations 
of  science  are  opening  in  all  directions  treasures  of  mineral 
wealth,  of  gold  and  silver,  copper,  iron  and  lead,  of  salt,  of 
coal,  and,  latest  and  strangest  prize  of  all,  of  oil  streaming 
from  the  flinty  bosom  of  the  rock — opportunities  so  numer- 
ous and  so  rich  as  to  absorb  all  the  surplus  laborers  of  the 
land  and  to  call  on  foreign  lands  for  more.  To  feed  and 
clothe  these  peaceful  armies  of  toil,  to  equip  them  with  the 
requisite  implements,  to  carry  them  to  their  distant  fields 
and  bring  back  to  market  the  precious  products  of  their 
labor,  gives  abundant  employment  to  agriculture,  to  manu- 
factures, to  every  branch  of  industry  and  trade.  The  very 
war  that  has  been  thrown  upon  us,  in  defence  of  the  gov- 
ernment which  protects  this  industry  and  of  those  sacred 
principles  and  blood-bought  institutions  which  guarantee 
the  right  and  dignity  of  labor, — a  war  so  gigantic  in  its 
proportions,  so  terrific  in  its  violence,  so  exhaustive  of  the 
ranks  of  labor,  and  so  destructive  to  its  fruits — has  wrought 
in  most  unexpected  ways  to  stimulate  exertion,  to  increase 
its  productiveness,  to  augment  at  least  the  prospective  re- 
sources of  the  land,  and  so  to  strengthen  the  national  con- 
fidence by  showing  how  God  can  stand  by  those  who  are 
trae  to  themselves  and  Him. 

Equally  powerful,  at  the  same  time,  are  the  incen- 
tives to  new  diligence  in  the  fields  of  thought,  and  to 
new  efforts  for  the  higher,  spiritual  interests  of  the  race. 
Science,  literature,  education,  all  the  intellectual  arts,  all 
agencies  lor  the  moral  culture  and  salvation  of  men,  check- 
ed for  a  season  by  the  gathering  gloom  and  threatening  por- 
tents of  the  war,  have  regained  confidence  and  resumed 
their  onward  march.  Again  the  press  is  busy  with  its  my- 
riad hands.    Schools  of  all  grades  are  full ;  aud  never  was 


14 


there  such  demand  for  competent  teachers.    New  problems 

are  up  in  political  and  social  science,  practical  and  momen- 
tous, and  wait  for  the  masters  who  can  grapple  and  con- 
quer them.  Demands  are  made  on  our  benevolence,  as 
novel  as  they  are  vast:  demands  not  merely  for  bounteous. 
ness  in  giving,  but  for  organizing  skill  and  executive  ener- 
gy to  cover  the  whole  wide  field  of  necessity  without  waste 
of  material  or  of  time,  and  to  reach  every  suffering  object 
of  the  nation's  sympathy  with  seasonable  and  suitable  relief. 
Meanwhile,  Religion  calls  for  willing  hands  to  thrust  in  the 
gospel  sickle,  at  home  and  abroad,  into  fields  waving  white 
to  the  harvest;  for  "truly" —  never  so  truly  in  all  the  ages 
past — "the  harvest  is  great,  and  the  laborers  are  few. 

Now,  every  man's  business  touches  at  some  point  this 
great  system  of  general  activity,  and  is  affected  by  it  In 
times  like  these,  no  man  need  languish  for  a  vocation  or 
for  opportunities  to  exercise  it.  God  calls  on  every  one  to 
stretch  his  vision  over  the  whole  animating  scene,  and  to 
catch  the  spirit  of  the  age ;  to  find  his  place  amidst  the 
host,  and  fill  it ;  to  find  his  work,  and  do  it ;  and  to  make 
the  New  Year  more  stirring  with  exertion,  more  fruitful  in 
result,  than  any  that  have  preceded,  by  as  much  as  it  is 
richer  in  opportunity  and  in  inspiration. 

But,  exciting  as  are  the  times  in  relation  to  private  en- 
terprise, the  crisis  to  which  the  New  Year  brings  the  na- 
tional life  is  still  more  full  of  interest  on  the  one  side,  and  of 
peril  on  the  other.  And  here  again,  the  call  is,  most  pecu- 
liarly, to  "go  forward,"  to  complete  work  already  begun. 

Into  what  an  undertaking  has  the  providence  of  God  led 
this  people !  It  was  not  desired  or  sought  for.  It  was  not 
foreseen  until  the  necessity  was  rolled  upon  us.  The  ap- 
proach of  that  necessity  we  would  not  believe,  though  faith- 
ful men  declared  it  to  us.  ^Ye  shrank  from  it  when  it  came, 
with  agony  of  reluctance.  We  well-nigh  sacrificed  our  in- 
tegrity to  evade  it.  But  God  pressed  it  upon  us,  and 
(blessed  be  His  name!)  lie  gave  us  grace  at  last  to  under- 
take it.    How  wonderfully  lie  has  sustained  and  assisted 


15 


us  through  four  stormy  years  of  war,  we  all  to-day  are 
witnesses.  He  has  disappointed  all  our  fears  and  more 
than  realized  our  hopes,  and  now  He  as  distinctly  requires 
us  to  go  on  and  complete  it.    Will  we  falter  and  give  back  ? 

What  is  it  we  have  undertaken  ?  We  have  undertaken 
to  maintain  the  authority  of  legitimate  government  in  this 
land  of  ours  ;  to  crush  out  treason — utterly,  and  to  re- 
duce to  order  a  rebellion  more  entirely  inexcusable  in  its 
origin,  as  it  is  more  arrogant  in  its  spirit  and  fiendish  in  its 
methods,  than  any  that  ever  rent  the  bowels  of  a  peaceful 
and  christian  land.  We  have  undertaken  to  convince  the 
world  that  there  is  an  infinite  difference  between  free  gov- 
ernment and  no  government  at  all,  and  that  Americans  well 
understand  that  difference  ;  that  by  as  much  as  we  rigidly 
restrict  government  to  its  legitimate  limits,  by  so  much 
will  we  sacredly  maintain  its  authority  within  those  bounds, 
and  terribly  shatter  the  arm  that  is  raised  for  its  overthrow  ; 
that  the  institutions  of  our  fathers  are  as  dear  to  the  hearts 
of  this  people  as  they  ever  were,  and  as  they  ever  deserve  to 
be  ;  that  no  cajolery  shall  delude  us  into  their  surrender  as 
no  terrors  can  drive  us  from  their  defence ;  that  we  will 
pour  out  blood  like  water  and  scatter  treasure  as  dirt  rath- 
er than  part  with  them,  and  grow  stronger  by  such  deple- 
tion and  richer  by  such  waste.  We  have  undertaken  to 
purge  the  land  of  the  accursed  stain  and  mildew  which  has 
defiled  it,  the  source  and  only  cause  of  all  our  woe.  We 
have  put  the  knife  to  the  cancer  which  has  long  been  eating 
out  our  strength  and  has  at  length  attacked  the  very  citadel 
of  our  life,  and  have  avowed  our  purpose  to  cut  it  out. 
We  have  vowed,  God  helping  us,  to  make  "all  things  new" 
in  this  beloved  land,  through  the  triumph  of  universal  and 
impartial  liberty,  the  music  of  falling  chains,  the  dethrone- 
ment of  a  pampered  and  bloody  aristocracy,  and  the  eleva- 
tion of  a  degraded  and  chattle-ised  race  to  the  dignity  of 
free  laborers  and  christian  men  ! 

"God  helping  us  ?"   did  I  say  ? 

Ah  !    God  will  help  us  in  a  work  like  this,  for  it  is 


16 


His  own  work ;  but  what  if  we  pause,  and  leave  the  work 
unfinished  ?  I  will  tell  you  what,  my  countrymen.  To 
other  hands  He  will  commit  the  work  and  the  rewards  of 
it ;  while  for  us  He  will  prepare  scourges,  as  fearful  as  our 
crime.  If,  having  put  our  hand  to  the  plough  in  such  an 
undertaking,  we  faint  in  mid-furrow  and  draw  back,  His 
soul,  be  sure,  shall  have  no  pleasure  in  us.  If,  brought  so 
far  on  our  rugged  way  by  his  wonder-working  providence 
and  come  at  last  to  the  very  border  of  the  promised  land, 
we  listen  to  the  evil  report  of  timorous  or  treacherous  scouts, 
and  refuse  to  enter  in — if  we  take  counsel  of  our  fears,  our 
avarice,  our  selfish  love  of  ease  and  luxury,  and  not  of  duty, 
of  honor,  and  of  God — if,  having  encouraged  our  enslaved 
fellow-countrymen  to  strike  for  their  freedom  and  helped  to 
half-wrest  them  from  the  grasp  of  their  oppressors,  we 
basely  abandon  them,  and  give  them  back  to  a  bondage 
more  cruel  and  more  hopeless  than  ever — 0  my  country- 
men, you  may  estimate  what  punishment  God  will  inflict 
by  estimating  what  punishment  we  shall  deserve  !  JS~o 
Canaan  of  rest,  no  golden  era  of  equal  laws  and  universal 
liberty,  shall  we  behold  in  our  day.  Driven  away  back- 
ward from  that  bright  vision  which  has  been  brought  so 
near,  our  carcasses  shall  fall  in  the  wilderness  out  of  which 
we  had  so  nearly  escaped.  Wicked  men  shall  be  our  rulers  ; 
our  children  improving  upon  our  bad  example,  shall  wax 
worse  and  worse  in  luxury,  corruption  and  pride ;  our  ene- 
mies at  home  and  abroad  shall  rejoice  over  us,  and  the  once 
proud  name  of  the  Eepublic  become  a  hissing  and  by-word 
in  the  earth. 

But,  brethren,  I  have  no  such  fear,  for  I  do  not  believe 
that  God  has  so  abandoned  us.  The  people  have  already 
spoken,  and  nobly  have  they  spoken.  They  have  fully 
counted  the  cost,  and  still  stand  harnessed  for  the  battle. 
They  have  said,  let  God  be  true  and  every  man  a  liar  !  They 
have  calmly  accepted  the  terrible  test  by  which  He  proves 
them.  They  have  bound  their  darling  Isaacs  to  the  altar 
and  6tretched  forth  the  knife,  obedient  to  the  divine  com- 


17 


mand.  O  God  of  faithful  Abraham,  make  haste  to  deliv- 
er !  Prepare  for  Thyself  another  sacrifice,  and  spare  the 
sons  of  our  love  !  This  year,  on  which  we  now  have  entered 
— O  may  it  be  the  last  of  our  agony  and  woe !  Make  it 
"happy,"  by  the  return  of  peace  to  our  borders — such  peace 
as  Thou  givest  and  blessest.  Make  it  "new,"  by  such  tri- 
umphs of  truth  and  of  love  among  us  as  the  world  has  never 
yet  beheld  ! 

But,  if  God  hear  our  prayers  and  bring  the  war  and  its 
unhappy  cause  to  an  end,fwill  the  work  of  Christian  patri- 
otism then  be  ended?  Oh!  no,  but  just  begun.  If  we  travel 
with  God,  we  tread  an  ever-ascending  path.  Each  step 
forward^places  us  on  a  higher  plane  of  privilege  and  duty. 
Every  conquest  won  but  yields  us  a  new  base,  and  vantage 
ground  for  further  and  grander  achievements.  So,  the  very 
success  of  the  nation  in  this  war  for  law  and  liberty  must 
open  new  and  difficult  questions  for  solution.  To  determine 
the  policy  to  be  pursued,  towards  the  subdued  insurgents 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  emancipated  slaves  on  the  other, 
will  alone  tax  to  the  uttermost  all  the  intelligence,  the  vir- 
tue, the  benevolence,  the  faith  in  God  and  truth,  of  which 
the  nation  can  boast.  It  is  easy,  I  know,  to  salve  over  the 
wound  with  the  prescriptions  of  political  quackery — to  look 
away  backward  to  theugood  old  times"  ot  evasion  and  com- 
promise, and  to  sigh  for  their  return — to  shout  aloud  the 
party  cry,  uthe  Union  as  it  was,  the  Constitution  as  it  is  ;" 
but  to  dispose  of  these  questions  in  any  such  way,  is  a  sim- 
ple impossibility.  God  has  given  the  wheel  another  turn, 
and  a  new  dispensation  is  opening  upon  us.  Whether  we 
like  it  or  not,  the  tide  of  events  which  has  swept  us  so  fearfully 
along  during  the  last  few  years  has  brought  us  into  entirely 
new  conditions  ;  and  it  would  be  fatuity  not  to  study  their 
bearing  and  shape  our  policy  by  them.  What  should  be 
the  details  of  that  policy,  this  is  not  the  proper  place,  even 
had  I  time,  to  discuss.  But  this  is  the  proper  place,  now 
and  always,  to  insist  that  its  spirit  shall  be  Christian.  The 


18 

audacity  which  originated  the  rebellion,  the  cruelties  which 
have  attended  it.  and  the  terrible  desolation  it  has  wrought, 
naturally  provoke  indignation  ;  and  many  are  calling  aloud 
for  retaliation  and  vengeance.  Abhorred  be  the  words ! 
they  "savor  not  the  things  that  be  of  God."  My  brethren 
we  have  drawn  the  sword  for  one  only  purpose— to  vindi- 
cate the  outraged  majesty  of  law  and  sustain  the  legitimate 
government  of  the  land  In  so  doing,  we  but  discharge  a 
duty  which  God  has  laid  upon  us.  This  motive  gives  to 
every  blow  struck  by  the  defenders  of  the  country  the  digni- 
ty of  a  ministerial,  the  sanctity  of  a  Divine  act.  Every 
thing  beyond  or  beside  this  but  proclaims  us  the  slaves  of 
unholy  passion,  and  is  at  once  a  crime  against  humanity 
and  an  invasion  of  the  Divine  prerogative.  The  laws  of 
war  may  require  retaliation  in  certain  circumstances  and 
within  certain  limits  ;  and  the  law  of  the  land  has  its  own 
punishment  for  treason  and  rebellion.  Let  the  responsible 
ministers  of  the  law  adjudge  and  execute  it.  But  let  the 
spirit  of  the  nation  be  purged  of  every  vindictive  element. 
"Vengeance  is  mine,  I  will  repay  ;  saith  the  Lord."  Let 
us  prosecute  this  war  in  the  spirit  of  "love  to  our  enemies." 
Let  us  convince  these  misguided  men  that  we  are  fighting 
not  for  ourselves  alone,  but  for  them  and  their  children  as 
well,  to  avert  the  common  ruin  in  which  their  madness 
would  involve  us  all.  And  when  the  war  is  ended,  when 
from  whatever  motive  the  weapons  of  rebellion  are  laid 
down  and  the  grasp  of  the  destroyer  is  taken  from  the  na- 
tion's throat,  let  our  study  be  not  how  we  can  make  them 
rue  most  bitterly  their  folly  and  crime,  but  how  we  can 
most  speedily  conquer  their  prejudices  and  win  their  hearts. 
We  may  not  readily  forget  the  past :  the  lesson  has  been  too 
costly,  and  is  too  vitally  related  to  the  welfare  of  comino- 
generations.  We  must  see  to  it,  too,  in  the  settlement, that 
the  sanctity  of  government  is  securely  guarded,  and  the 
rights  of  the  weak  effectually  protected.  But  we  may  dis- 
criminate between  the  people  at  large  and  the  bold,  bad 
men,  who  have  partly  misled  and  partly  misrepresented 


19 

them  and  always  betrayed  their  true  interests  for  the  basest 
ends.  Let  these  answer  to  the  law  which  they  have  defied. 
But  towards  the  Southern  people,  as  individuals,  communi: 
ties,  or  states,  we  surely  need  bear  no  grudges.  We  must 
feel  that,  our  circumstances  changed,  we  should  most  pro- 
bably have  committed  the  same  error.  We  must  not  forget 
how  large  a  share  we  at  the  North  actually  had  in  originat- 
ing and  fostering  the  tendencies  of  whose  bitter  fruit  we  are 
all  eating.  If  then,  God,  through  what  men  call  "the  for- 
tunes of  war,"  should  give  us  the  opportunity  to  be  mag- 
nanimous, let  us  be  zealous  to  improve  it.  Let  us  be  just 
in  the  construction  we  put  upon  motives,  and  generous  in 
praise  of  virtues  which  have  shed  so  strange  a  lustre  even 
on  so  bad  a  cause.  In  the  re-organization  of  our  disordered 
land,  let  us  recognize  their  claim  to  that,  for  which  their 
hypocritical  leaders  pretend  to  be  contending,  but  which 
has  never  been  denied  them — the  inalienable  right  of  self- 
government,  the  right  (that  is)  to  an  equal  voice  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  common  weal.  Let  us  show,  that  if  they  have 
exaggerated,  we  do  not  therefore  underrate,  the  sacredness 
of  "State  Rights"  in  a  just  relation  to  the  national  polity. 
Let  us  generously  aid  them  to  repair  the  damages  of  the 
war,  and,  by  every  means  in  our  power,  smooth  their  tran- 
sition to  the  new  and  better  social  condition  which  the  war 
will  have  made  inevitable.  Thus  may  we  in  time,  by  the 
blessing  of  God,  restore  fraternity  to  our  divided  land,  dis- 
appoint the  hopes  of  our  enemies  abroad,  and  illustrate  be- 
yond all  former  example  the  power  of  faith  in  Him,  who 
"maketh  all  things  new." 

And  the  negro — the  irrepressible  negro — he  will  not  be 
left  out  of  the  reckoning,  and  what  shall  be  done  with  him  ? 
It  is  the  question  which  all  are  asking,  and  to  which  an  an- 
swer must  be  found.  "The  low,  the  lazy,  the  lying  negro," 
as  many  will  call  him — ignorant,  undisciplined  and  unde- 
veloped, as  all  must  concede  him  to  be — the  heir  of  an  infe- 
rior organization,  the  slave  and  victim  for  many  generations 
of  the  basest  passions  of  a  more  powerful  race — and  yet  a 


20 


man,  made  like  us  in  the  image  of  God,  involved  with  us 
in  the  ruins  of  the  same  fall,  embraced  in  the  sweep  of  the 
same  great  redemption,  bound  to  the  same  judgment,  and 
hoping  for  the  same  heaven.  As  we  look  down  the  vista 
of  the  opening  year,  his  form  looms  up,  darkly  sublime,  di- 
rectly in  our  path,  and  very,  very  near ;  and  again  the 
question  comes  back  to  us,  "What  will  you  do  with  him  ?" 
Ah!  my  countrymen,  were'our  eyes' but  anointed  to  dis- 
cern the  truth,  with  what  strange  majesty  would  that  dusky 
form  appear  invested !  His  filth  and  rags  would  vanish, 
and  he  would  stand  before  us  clothed  in  the  habiliments, 
and  radiant  with  the  dignity,  of  a  messenger  and  represent- 
ative of  God !  He  stands  where  he  does,  by  divine  ap- 
pointment, to  be  the  touch-stone  of  our  political  virtue  and 
our  religious  faith.  He  is  the  key  of  the  situation — the 
hinge,  on  which  God  will  make  to  turn  the  future  destiny 
of  this  people  ;  and  I  know  of  no  question  fraught  with  pro- 
founder  interest  to  the  American  people  than  this : — What 
will  you  do  with  the  negro  ? 

Some  tell  us  we  can  do  nothing  with  him,  and  others 
say  we  need  do  nothing  with  him.  But  neither  one  nor 
the  other,  I  apprehend,  speak  the  language  of  a  sound 
philosophy  or  a  pure  religion.  We  have  much  to  do  with 
the  negro,  and  much  to  do  for  him,  if  we  would  avert  the 
perils  of  his  sudden  emancipation  amidst  the  prevailing  dis- 
orders of  this  gigantic  civil  war, — if  we  would  take  up  this 
strange  element,  as  yet  but  partially  assimilated,  so  easy  to 
be  alienated,  and  fraught  with  such  portentous  power  for 
evil,  and  successfully  incorporate  it  into  our  vast  and  com- 
prehensive nationality.  IIowt\\\§  is  to  be  done,  it  is  not  for 
me  to  say.  But  so  much  I  need  not  hagitate  to  declare, 
that  a  thing  so  "new"  in  the  history  of  the  world  will  hard- 
ly be  accomplished  save  with  the  co-operative  power  of 
"Him  that  sitteth  on  the  throne,"  and  through  those  agen- 
cies whereby  He  "maketh  all  things  new."  Our  part  is  to 
understand  what  God  is  doing,  and  to  act  in  harmony  with 
Him.    Has  God  made  manifest,  by  infallible  proofs,  His 


21 


purpose  to  give,  at  last,  the  negro  "a  career  ?"  We  must 
remove  the  stumbling-blocks  which  we  have  heaped  in  his 
way,  and  let  him  have  his  chance.  Has  God  set  to  his  seal 
that  the  negro  is  a  man  ?  We  must  accept  him  as  such, 
and  respect  him  as  such,  and  remember  the  truth  we  have 
inscribed  on  the  corner-stone  of  our  liberties,  that  all 
men  are  created  not  only  "free,"  but  "equal" — equal,that  is, 
in  civil  rights,  and  in  all  natural  opportunities  for  growth 
and  improvement.  Is  God  preparing  a  field  for  the  negro's 
labor  ? — desolating  wide  tracts  of  territory,  which  no  hands 
but  his  will  ever  again  make  fertile — disorganizing  a  vast 
system  of  industry  to  which  he  alone  can  restore  vigor  and 
productiveness?  We  must  protect  and  honor  his  labor,  just 
as  we  do  that  of  other  men — must  afford  him  the  same  mo- 
tives to  industry,  the  same  encouragements  and  rewards,  and 
the  same  means  of  self-protection  which  other  laborers  enjoy 
against  the  encroachments  of  cupidity  and  power;  and  the 
crown  which  the  nation  has  ever  awarded  to  honest  and 
productive  toil,  we  must  not  grudge  to  place  upon  the  sable 
brow.  Has  Christ  died  for  the  negro  \  and  will  He  purify 
and  exalt  him,  and  lit  him  for  companionship  with  angels 
and  for  a  place  within  His  own  bosom  ?  Then  must  we,  for 
Christ's  sake,  recognize  and  treat  him  as  a  brother,  in  a 
spirit  of  generous  sympathy  and  helpful  love.  Is  he  low? 
we  must  raise  him.  Is  he  weak  ?  we  must  impart  to  him 
of  our  strength.  Has  he  fallen  among  thieves  who  have 
stripped,  and  robbed  him,  and  left  him  half  dead  ?  We 
must  run  to  his  relief ;  we  must  let  him  feel  a  brother's 
arms  beneath  him,  a  brother's  heart  throbbing;  against  his 
own,  a  brothers  affectionate  generosity  providingfor  his  ne- 
cessities and  healing  all  his  hurts.  Instead  of  meanly  mak- 
ing the  inferiority  of  the  negro  an  excuse  for  multiplying 
his  disabilities  and  robbing  him  of  his  equal  rights,  if  we 
are  Christians,  my  brethren,  we  shall  turn  around  and  rea- 
son just  the  other  way.  We  shall  silence  >the  brutal  clamor 
which  still  fills  the  air  about  us,  against  the  "nigger."  We 
shall  eradicate   the  unworthy  prejudice  from    our  own 


22 


bosoms.  We  shall  interpose,  not  only  between  him  and  the 
cruelty  of  his  southern  oppressors,  but  also  between  him  and 
the  meaner  and  more  cruel  jealousy  of  his  northern  fellow- 
laborers  ;  and  standing  by  the  altars  which  our  fathers 
reared  to  Impartial  Liberty,  we  shall  swear  to  each  other 
and  our  fathers'  God,  that  the  negro  shall  at  least  have  fair 
play — yea, that  by  as  much  as  he  has  heretofore  been  despoil- 
ed of  his  natural  rights,  they  shall  be  guaranteed  to  him^ 
not  less,  but  more  sacredly  hereafter  !  Finally,  is  God  gath- 
ering on  this  continent,  in  this  broad  domain  of  liberty,  the 
elements  of  a  new  and  glorious  nationality,  meaning  out  of 
many  races  to  mold  one  "new"  race  more  rich  and  strong 
and  admirably  endowed  than  any  that  have  been  ?  and, 
among  the  rest,  has  He  brought  the  negro  !  Then  must 
we  cease,  my  brethren,  to  fight  in  opposition  to  His  pur- 
pose, cease  to  build  our  petty  dykes  against  the  tidal  cur- 
rent of  His  providence,  cease  to  demand  the  rejection  of 
one  ingredient  trom  the  composition  because  we  do  not  like 
or  comprehend  it.  We  must  give  God  and  nature  leave  to 
work ;  and  we  must  work  with  them,  so  far  at  least  as  the 
laws  of  equal  justice,  impartial  freedom,  and  Christian  fra- 
ternity require.  Have  we  not  learned,  that  when  a  nation 
like  ours,  with  such  an  ancestry  and  such  historical  antece- 
dents, proves  traitorous  to  the  principles  of  natural  right, 
God  comes  to  it  with  scourges — yea,  with  flails,  and  will 
either  thresh  the  iniquity  out  of  it,  or  thresh  the  nation  in- 
to powder  1 

But  what  does  all  this  mean  ?  you  ask.  Does  it  mean 
free  education,  with  the  whites  ?  Does  it  mean  unrestrict- 
ed competition  in  all  branches  of  business,  and  for  all  the 
rewards  of  honor  and  wealth  ?  Does  it  mean  free  citizen- 
ship, the  right  of  the  ballot,  and  the  dignity  of  office  ?  I  do 
not  see,  my  indignant  Caucasian  friend,  but  it  may  possibly 
come  even  to  that :  let  statesmen  judge,  and  wisely  fix  the 
how  and  the  when.  But  are  you  afraid  of  the  competition  ? 
It  means  this,  at  least,  that,  in  a  free  land,  you  ought  to 
have  no  advantage  of  a  negro,  civil,  political,  or  social, 


23 


simply  because  your  skins  are  of  different  complexion,  or 
because  your  ancestors  came  from  different  quarters  of  the 
globe  ;  none,  but  what  you  fairly  earn  by  superior  endow- 
ments or  by  superior  diligence.  Do  you  shrink  from'  a  con- 
test with  him  on  equal  terms  ? 

Such  notions,  I  admit,  are  novelties.  The  adoption  of 
them  in  practice  would  certainly  make  "new  times"  among 
us.  But  they  are  novelties,  I  apprehend,  which  to  the  eye 
of  impartial  and  enlightened  observers,  the  world  over, 
would  reveal  the  hand  of  Him  who  sits  upon  the  Eternal 
Throne,  and  is  making  all  things  new.  They  are  novelties 
which  would  mark  the  nation's  progress  in  moral  wisdom 
and  in  nobleness  of  character,  and  would  carry  the  race  a 
long  stride  nearer  to  that  golden  era  of  perfection  for  which 
it  struggles  and  sighs. 

III.  But  I  must  hasten  to  a  close.  The  peculiarity  of 
the  occasion  has  led  me  to  consider  my  theme  almost  exclu- 
sively in  the  kingdoms  of  Nature  and  Providence.  But  I 
should  miss  the  most  important  lesson  of  the  text,  if  I  failed  to 
remark  that  the  renovating  power  of  God  is  most  signally 
of  all  displayed  in  the  sphere  of  man's  Redemption. 

It  ^as  the  Mediatorial  Throne  which  John  here  beholds 
in  the  Apocalyptic  vision,  and  "He  that  sat  thereon"  is 
Jesus  Christ — "the  Lamb  in  the  midst  thereof."  He  is 
the  Great  Eenewer — wonderful  as  such  in  creation  and  in 
providence,  but  supremely  wonderful  in  the  wonders  of 
His  grace.  It  was  for  this  He  came  into  the  world,  to  re- 
claim, to  reconstruct,  and  fashion  it  anew.  It  was  alienated 
and  apostate,  but  He  undertook  to  reconcile  it — dark,  but 
He  would  enlighten  it — disordered  with  all  spiritual  mala- 
dies, but  He  possessed  the  power  to  work  its  cure.  It  was 
full  of  fraud  and  violence,  corruption  and  crime,  oppression, 
cruelty,  and  deceit ;  and  He  has  undertaken  to  illumine 
and  exalt  it,  and  to  fill  it  with  love  and  purity  and  peace. 
Behold,  (He  says)  I  make  all  things  new  ! 

And  abundantly  has  the  claim  been  vindicated,  alike  in 
the  history  of  His  personal  ministry  and  the  effects  since 


24 


wrought  through  the  preaching  of  His  word.  By  His  su- 
blime unveiling  of  the  Fatherhood  and  Forgiving  Love  of 
God,— -that  truth  of  truths,  which  the  world  by  wisdom  ne- 
ver knew, — by  the  great  fact  of  immortality  first  brought  to 
light  in  the  Gospel,  by  His  "new  commandment"  of  love 
and  His  own  peerless  illustration  of  its  beauty  and  power, 
by  the  solemn  mystery  of  His  death  and  the  glorious  mys- 
tery of  His  resurrection,  by  the  entirely  new  relation  into 
which  man  was  thereby  brought  with  God,  and  by  the  out- 
pouring of  the  Holy  Ghost — the  new  Comforter  sent 
through  His  intercession — by  all  these  signs  did  He  prove 
Himself  possessed  of  a  new  and  new-creating  power ;  and 
the  amazing  transformations  wrought  by  it  since,  in  the 
character  of  men  and  the  condition  of  nations,  attest  the 
energy  of  its  operation  and  its  continued  activity  to  the 
present  hour. 

Consult  the  records  of  history.  Compare  the  effects  of 
the  gospel  on  human  character  and  life  wTith  those  of  any 
other  agency  the  world  has  known,  and  judge  it  by  its 
fruits.  A  repentance  which  stops  not  short  of  reformation 
— a  joy,  surpassing  all  other  joys — a  morality  pure  as  the 
heart  of  God,  whence  it  sprung — a  patience  that  refuses 
no  suffering — a  benevolence  that  shrinks  from  no  sacrifice 
— a  charity  that  believeth  all  things — a  hope  like  an  anchor 
to  the  soul,  entering  within  the  veil — a  faith  that  out-sings 
affliction's  fiercest  storm,  that  out  shines  the  very  flames  of 
martyrdom,  that  purifies  the  heart,  and  overcomes  the 
world,  and  triumphs  even  in  death — these  are  its  fruits,  fa- 
miliar to  the  experience  of  thousands,  and  proof  of  a  poten- 
cy Divine.  How  can  it  be  but  that  to  such  elements  shall 
ultimately  be  given  a  universal  victory? 

It  is  more  than  eighteen  centuries  now  since  Jesus  com- 
pared His  kingdom  to  a  grain  of  mustard-seed,  at  first  "the 
least  of  all  seeds,"  but  wrapping  in  its  tiny  rind  "the  great- 
est of  all  herbs,"  and  to  the  leaven  whose  vital  force  strikes 
through  the  mass  of  meal,  nor  ever  ceases  to  work  "until 
the  whole  is  leavened  :"  and  the  history  of  the  world  since 


25 


then  lias,  as  you  well  know,  been  but  an  unfolding  of  the 
truth  And  still  the  work  goes  on — never  more  vigorously, 
never  more  effectually,  I  apprehend,  than  in  the  years  in 
which  we  live.  For  though  to  particular  formulas  of  the 
Christian  doctrine  or  to  particular  forms  of  ecclesiastical 
organization,  no  signal  prosperity,  no  special  enlargement, 
may  of  late  have  been  vouchsafed,  yet  never  since  the  birth 
of  Christ  were  the  thought  and  life  of  civilized  men,  the 
literature,  the  philosophy,  the  government  and  business  of 
the  world,  so  widely  permeated  by  the  essential  truth  and 
vital  spirit  of  Christianity  as  they  are  to-day. 

How  far,  indeed,  the  recent  retarded  growth  of  partic- 
ular churches  may  be  due  to  this  prevalence  in  society  of 
a  Christian  idea  too  large,  and  free,  and  many-sided,  to 
find  expression  in  any  one  of  them,  it  would  be  difficult  to 
estimate  and  idle  to  conjecture.  The  general  mind,  educat- 
ed by  many  masters,  has  out-grown  them  all,  and  refuses 
the  ipsissima  verba  of  each  in  turn,  so  that  the  church  out- 
side of  the  sects,  the  Christianity  outside  the  church,  may  be 
relatively  larger  than  we  suspect,  and  larger  than  will  ap- 
pear,until  the  growth  of  intelligence  and  love  in  the  "church 
universal"  shall  lead  to  a  reconstruction  of  its  symbols,  rit- 
uals, and  polity  on  a  broader  and  more  truly  Christian  basis. 
Meanwhile  the  renovation  of  the  world  goes  on,  advanced 
by  a  thousand  unconscious  and  unsuspected  agents.  All 
the  discoveries  of  science,  and  all  the  inventions  of  art,  serve 
it.  Knowledge,  in  which  there  is  always  a  portion  of  Di- 
vinity, is  mure  and  more  diffused.  An cien Terrors  are  ex- 
ploded ;  and  truths,  instinct  with  a  celestial  vitality,  are  es- 
tablished in  spite  of  the  oppositions  of  interest  and  preju- 
dice. Goodness  and  love,  bad  as  the  world  still  is,  command 
increasing  homage ;  and  all  the  charities  of  public  and  private 
life  receive  from  year  to  year  more  striking  illustrations. — 
Thus  civilization  itself  is  preparing  the  way  of  the  Lord; 
while  the  Gospel,  vocal  on  the  lips  and  radiant  in  the  lives 
of  a  myriad  witnesses,  breathing  its  pure  spirit  through 
the  literature,  the  laws,  and  the  social^life  of  Christendom, 


26 


makes  itself  ever  better  understood  and  more  and  more 
powerfully  felt  for  the  salvation  of  men. 

In  conclusion,  my  hearers,  the  subject  assumes  a  practi- 
cal and  personal  bearing.  The  renewing  of  which  Christ 
proclaims  Himself  the  author,  is  a  spiritual  renewing,  and 
its  seat  is  the  soul  of  the  individual  man.  uHe  thai  is  in 
Christ  Jesus,  is  the  new  creature."  It  is  to  him  only,  that, 
in  any  real  sense,  "old  things  have  passed  away,  and  all 
things  have  become  new."  And  the  most  important  quest- 
ion that  any  one  can  put  to  himself  is  this  : — Have  I  ever 
experienced  this  "renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and  so  be- 
come fitted  to  work  with  the  Son  of  God  for  the  renovation 
of  the  world  ? 

I  have  spoken  of  the  vast  fields  of  human  enterprise,  ma- 
terial and  moral,  and  of  the  encouragements  to  enter  and 
occupy  them.  I  believe  all  that  I  have  said  in  honor  of 
faithful  toil.  I  recognize  the  hand  of  God  in  the  triumphs 
of  civilization,  and  in  the  entire  progress  of  humanity.  I 
expect  to  see  "a  new  earth"  as  well  as  "a  new  heaven," 
according  to  the  scripture,  and  the  earth  made  new  by  a 
Divine  blessing  on  human  work.  But  believe  me,  my 
friend,  not  every  kind  of  work  will  draw  God's  blessing  on 
the  workman.  Yea,  rather,  believe  Him  who  is  the  best 
of  Teachers  and  the  best  of  Friends,  and  who  says: — This 
is  the  work  of  God,  that  ye  believe  on  Him  whom  God  hath 
sent."  It  is  the  first  great  business  of  life.  That  accom- 
plished, your  success  is  sure.  That  neglected,  life  must  be 
a  failure.  I  care  not  what  temporary  prizes  you  may  win, 
or  what  benefit  others  may  reap  from  your  toils.  To  your- 
self, the  end  must  be  defeat  and  bitter  disappointment.  If 
your  aims  are  earthly,  how  can  you  hope  for  a  heavenly  re- 
ward ?  If  you  labor  for  yourself  alone,  how  can  you  claim 
a  share  at  last  in  the  triumphs  of  your  Lord — Him  whom 
you  have  despised  and  rejected,  and  put  to  an  open  shame? 

Let  us  not  mistake  then,  and  lose  ourselves  in  the  mag- 
nitude of  our  theme.  The  Great  JRenewer  deals  not  with 
crowds,  not  with  nations,  not  with  the  world  at  large,  but 


37 


with  individual  men  and  women — with  you  and  me,  my 
brother  and  my  sister — and  as  to  eaeh  in  turn  He  offers  this 
wondrous  grace  of  renewal,  so  on  each  He  throws  the  re- 
sponsibility of  accepting  or  refusing  it.  Oh  !  what  more 
fitting  time  than  just  this  morning  to  meet  the  question 
bravely,  to  answer  it  as  you  know  you  should,  and  as  you 
will  one  day  wish  you  had  ?  What  more  fitting  inscription 
to  write  on  the  fair  brow  of  the  new,  unsullied  Year,  than 
this : 

Holiness  Unto  the  Lord  ! 
"My  life,  which  Thou  hast  made  Thy  care, 
Lord,  I  devote  to  Thee  !" 

When  Jesus  offers  you  His  renewing  grace',  it  is  not  at 
arm's  length,  sitting  afar  on  the  distant  throne  of  His  glory. 
He  comes  down,  out  of  His  place,  in  the  greatness  of  His  love. 
He  is  at  my  side  to-day,  and  pleads  with  you  by  my  voice. 
Nay,  He  draws  nearer  still,  and  I  hear  his  own  gentle  tones 
addressed  to  every  one.  Hark!  Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door, 
and  knock.  Awake,  O  sleeper,  and  rise  to  let  him  in  !  If 
any  man  will  hear  my  voice  and  open  unto  me,  I  will  come 
in  to  him,  and  will  sup  with  him,  and  he  with  me.  O, 
blessed  companionship  !  O,  delicious  entertainment !  O, 
sweeter  than  angel's  food  —  redeeming  grace  and  dying  love'! 
— And  does  he  bring  nothing  with  Him,  no  New-year's 
Gift,  to  make  His  welcome  richer  ?  Listen  :  1  will  give 
him  to  eat  of  the  hidden  manna,  and  will  give  him  a  white 
stone,  and  in  the  stone  a  new  nume  written  which  no  man 
knoweth  saving  he  that  receiveth  it.  He  means  a  new  heart 
— a  heart  changed  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  made 
clean  and  white  and  pure,  having  the  inward  and  incom- 
municable Witness  of  His  favor,  which  is  at  the  same  time 
the  pledge  of  heavenly  bliss.  And  I  will  write  upon  him 
the  name  of  my  God,  and  of  the  city  of  my  God,  New  Jeru- 
salem: and  T  will  write  upon  him  my  new  name.  I  tell 
you,  fellow-sinners,  you  cannot  afford  to  lose  the  offer.  I 
beseech  you,  take  Him  at  His  word  to-day,  and  secure  this 
invaluable  gem,  this  priceless  new-year's  gift ! 


28 


Then,  in  the  day  of  glorious  consummation,  when  the 
work  of  renovation  is  complete,  when  the  "new  heaven  and 
the  new  earth"  stand  revealed,  and  "the  holy  city,  New  Je- 
rusalem, cometh  down  trom  God,  prepared  as  a  bride  adorn- 
ed for  her  husband,1'  with  what  confidence  and  pride  will 
you  present  this  token  at  the  pearly  gate,  and  claim  admit- 
tance there?  And,  O,  with  what  tremulous  tones  and 
streaming  tears  of  joy  will  you  take  up  your  golden  harp 
and  join  the  song — the  new  song — the  sweet,  immortal  song 
of  Moses  and  the  Lamb,  saying: 

"Blessing,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and  power, 
be  unto  Him  that  sitteth  on  the  throne, 
and  unto  the  Lamb  forever." 
Amen. 


